Admittedly we are a tad late on our NFL divisional predictions. On the eve of the biggest AFC North game for the Cincinnati Bengals for quite sometime, we have to go on record for how we think the AFC North will go. If you have followed our previews up to this time, Taylor Blitz was the first of the national pundits that had the Cincinnati Bengals going to the AFC Championship Game in a few months. https://taylorblitztimes.com/2013/04/16/2013-cincinnati-bengals-team-preview-slowly-building-a-winner/ That article was produced on April 16th, so we are talking before the unfortunate events with the Patriots and Aaron Hernandez. Before the suspension of Von Miller out in Denver. Right now the Cincinnati Bengals have a tremendous amount going for them, including returning the NFL’s 6th ranked defense.
The Cincinnati Bengals should be the best of the AFC North in 2013.
2013 AFC North Predictions
1. Cincinnati Bengals 11-5 ##
2. Pittsburgh Steelers 9-7
3. Baltimore Ravens 7-9
4. Cleveland Browns 6-10
The only team to make it to the playoffs from this division this year are the Bengals. What we do know is Cleveland has improved on offense, if we’re talking about the preseason. They struggled against a rebuilding Ravens team that gave up an NFL record 7 touchdown passes to Peyton Manning in week 1. The Browns actually had scouts at the Texas A&M / Alabama game to scout Johnny Manziel who threw 5 touchdowns and scored 42 against the number one team in the nation. Current QB Brandon Weeden has 14 more games to prove he is the future or his job is gone next off-season.
The Steelers are in the middle of a rebuilding year and need to indoctrinate several young players in the Pittsburgh mold. Understand this record was before they lost signal callers Maurkice Pouncey, Center, and inside linebacker Larry Foote to season ending injuries. They may fall further than 9-7 but the rest of the division might be too weak to take advantage.
Which brings us to tonight. Former NFL commissioner Bert Bell coined the phrase “On any given Sunday” back in the 1950’s. Meaning that at any time a lessor team can take down one of the NFL heavies. It’s amazing how that has been through the years. Yet one of the items we say around here is every champion has building blocks to their championship mettle. One mission for the Cincinnati Bengals tonight is to prove to the Steelers, NFL fans, teams and most importantly to themselves that they are the team that rules the AFC North. Nevermind their loss in week 1 it starts tonight. That psychological building block to this team’s psyche begins in a few hours. Their mission, should they choose to accept it….
Now the season is off to a rollicking start, it’s time to finish up on our predictions for the course of the 2013 NFL season. One division that is going to see turnover at the top is the AFC North. It was long thought the Baltimore Ravens wouldn’t be the defense we had come to know with Ray Lewis, but to allow 7 touchdowns to Peyton Mannning?? Uh oh… might take some time for that defense to jell this season if they do at all. So who will win the AFC North and interrupt the hold at the top dominated by Pittsburgh and Baltimore the last 13 years??
The Cincinnati Bengals should be the best of the AFC North in 2013.
2013 AFC North Predictions
1. Cincinnati Bengals 12-4 ##
2. Pittsburgh Steelers 9-7
3. Cleveland Browns 7-9
4. Baltimore Ravens 6-10
The last two years have been a dress rehearsal for the Bengals in the NFL playoffs. This year they will do some serious damage as a division winner. They return the 6th best defense in the NFL before you factor in the addition of James Harrison. They were second in the NFL with 52 sacks, 4th in touchdown passes allowed with 16 and added players to bolster both those numbers. Andy Dalton, in year 3, knows his team and this division and will know his way around the NFL playoffs as well.
The Steelers are in a short rebuilding phase and will have a few growing pains. However when you return with the #1 defense in pro football, you will be in a lot of games. The only issue is they don’t force turnovers like they used to. We also have to see how Mike Wallace’s absence holds back the passing game. With that defense and LeVeon Bell they will sneak close to the playoffs but will have to wait until 2014 to showcase what they can do.
The Browns are a much improved team but still can’t compete at the top of this division. Trent Richardson will dominate this year where last year he showed some flashes. They really looked good in the preseason but we have to see how they respond when real bullets start flying.
As for the Baltimore Ravens….sigh. We attended their funeral last Thursday when Peyton Manning baptized them with 7 touchdown passes. They were just caught in a vice when the offense went flat early in the third quarter. Yet the lack of leadership showed up when they couldn’t stem the tide. A season of growing pains awaits the Super Bowl champs.
We’re at that time where we need to get the NFL regular season underway. The draft picks are in and we’ve seen how coaches want to implement them. We’ve watched Chip Kelly introduce his offense in Philadelphia and the new 4-3 in Dallas. So how will those teams fare when the ball is kicked off in a few hours?
Home of the New York Giants and site of Super Bowl XLVIII
2013 NFC East Predictions
1. New York Giants 10-6 #
2. Washington Redskins 9-7
3. Dallas Cowboys 7-9
4. Philadelphia Eagles 5-11
The lingering issue for Taylor Blitz Times is how will RGIII hold up once the hitting starts?? You can only protect him for so long and Coach Shanahan did the right thing keeping him out of meaningless action. The Redskins will benefit having Orakpo back but will have deficient play from their secondary.
Again as we look at the landscape of the NFC East there are many flawed teams but the Giants will be the best in this division. Once they signed Victor Cruz and insured Manning will have his top targets, that gave them the edge. Truth be told, they have been middle of the road defensively and get by on a strong pass rush and effective schemes with their secondary. Last year too many injuries derailed them and one of the pushes for this team is the Super Bowl will be in their home stadium. Watch Eli and New York…
This was the best division in the NFL last year and this season shouldn’t disappoint. Lets face it,either the Seattle Seahawks or the San Francisco 49ers should make it to the NFC Championship Game and in many circles, have these two fighting it out for a trip to Super Bowl XLVIII in New York. How do we see it here at Taylor Blitz??
2013 NFC West Predictions
Seattle Seahawks alternate logo.
1. Seattle Seahawks 13-3 #
2. San Francisco 49ers 11-5 *
3. Arizona Cardinals 7-9
4. St Louis Rams 5-11
Sure the Rams did great within the division last year but that was with Steven Jackson and Danny Amendola powering the offense. Bradford will have growing pains again this year as the offense will struggle to find their identity. Expect to see many wasted defensive efforts this season.
For the last month, The Chancellor has been able to watch the Cardinals defense up close. They could use a little more pass rush but this might be the best defense in the NFL going into 2013. They return with runner up Taylor Blitz Times Defensive Player of the Year in LB Daryl Washington. Patrick Peterson is entering his prime and should be in the running for defensive player of the year himself. We’re just not sold on Carson Palmer as a leader but they will win some games in 2013.
The Seahawks will be the class of the division. No one plays with the speed, spirit, and tenacity of this team. They were undefeated at home last year and the wins were more lopsided as the season commenced. Forty niner fans point to DE Bruce Irvin missing the first four games due to suspension and Percy Harvin the first half of the season due to injury. These guys are luxuries and will be there when the Seahawks make the stretch run. The only question is will they get home field advantage?? If they do…don’t forget San Fran lost 42-13 in week 15 up in Qwest Field.
San Francisco will be a high scoring team this year and they need to be. The defense is still one of the best in the NFL but their secondary started to slide last year. In fact the secondary is the reason they lost Super Bowl XLVII to the Baltimore Ravens and now they have to replace Dashon Goldson. No easy task. Colin Kaepernick will stay ahead of defenses the first half of the season, but they will catch up to the 49er offense in the second half. Without Michael Crabtree, this team needs to implement some young talent on the outside. The saving grace for this offense is the front line and fleet of running backs to go with Kaepernick. They’ll also miss 2nd TE Delanie Walker, who lined up as an H-Back and was the lead blocker on many of Frank Gore’s power rushing plays.
Both Seattle and San Francisco will be there until the end but it will be Seattle and that swarming defense that captures the division.
Andre Reed was a very dangerous receiver with the Buffalo Bills in the late 80s and early 90s.
As many of the NFL’s best ever gather for the Pro Football Hall of Fame enshrinement ceremony, Andre Reed, who has been a finalist 7 times, remains on the outside looking in. Many forget how dangerous Andre Reed was with the football when the Buffalo Bills rose to prominence back in the late 80’s. He was a budding superstar before the Bills brought in James Lofton during the 1989 season.
Essentially and unselfishly he sacrificed personal glory as a slot receiver where he spent most of his time getting hit by linebackers and running away from safeties as he perfected the run after the catch. He could have been a prima donna and cried through the media for more passes, but he didn’t. He sacrificed for the good of the Buffalo Bills and it could be those lack of numbers now keeping him out of the Hall. So lets take a closer look.
During the early 1980’s, the Buffalo Bills were a downtrodden franchise with little direction. The Bills had stumbled in the standings from 1982-1984. going 14-27. The area was economically depressed and morale was low on a football team that was literally Siberia in NFL circles. However that changed in 1985 with the first overall draft selection of future Hall of Famer DE Bruce Smith and spent a fourth round pick on a little known receiver out of Kutztown St. Who?? Exactly. This was the draft where the pre-draft talk was on Jerry “World” Rice of Mississippi Valley State, and Al Toon out of Wisconsin. However there was talk brimming on a little known receiver shuffling off to Buffalo.
Reed as a rookie showed promise as he caught a modest 46 passes for 637 yards and 4 touchdowns. He and Smith were the first cogs in a rebuilding project that would include QB Jim Kelly in 1986, Shane Conlan, Cornelius Bennett in 1987, and Thurman Thomas in 1988. The Bills became a defensive minded team that ran the ball with a combination of Ronnie Harmon, Thomas, and Robb Riddick. It was the 1988 season, Reed’s fourth, where the team took off racing to an 11-1 record and became the first team to win their division by Thanksgiving. Reed made the Pro Bowl for the first time that season catching 71 passes for 968 yards and 7 touchdowns. Despite missing two games to injury. The Bills dropped the Houston Oilers 17-10 in the divisional round before falling to Cincinnati in the AFC Championship Game 21-10.
However it was the 1989 season where Andre Reed and the Bills offense hit full stride. For the record, he had become the NFL’s most dangerous receiver after the catch. In a year where the Bills found themselves in shootouts they opened up the offense with a no-huddle reminiscent of Kelly’s run & shoot USFL days. Reed burst into the nation’s consciousness when he had a 5 catch 135 yard 2 TD performance in a wild 47-41 overtime win against Houston. It was the game of the year and in spectacular fashion, Reed took a routine 5 yard pass and turned it into a winning 28 yard score. He juked the initial defender covering him, ran through an attempted arm tackle and took it down the sideline. Ballgame!! Reed finished with 88 receptions for a career best 1,312 yards and 9 touchdown (#2 in NFL /receptions) and became one of the league’s game breakers.
As the 9-7 Bills limped into the playoffs, they faced the aging Cleveland Browns in a divisional playoff. With his team down 3-0, Kelly 0 for 5, and needing some offense, it was Reed who struck with a game breaking 72 yard touchdown to get the Bills into the game 7-3.
Reed went on to catch 6 for 115 yards and a touchdown as he was matched up against All Pro Cornerback Frank Minnifield all day. The 34-30 loss was one of the greatest games in NFL history and the nation’s first glimpse of what was to come. By 1990, with James Lofton now entrenched as a starter on the outside, the Bills ran their 3 receiver no huddle offense from the outset of the season and not as a 2 minute offense. At the time, they made a then unheard of decision to have Reed play in the slot instead of the “Z” receiver. This isn’t like now where defenders aren’t allowed to really tee off on receivers running inside routes. He was never going to be the receiver running under picture perfect bombs again. He had to fight for yards the tough way….after the catch in the middle of defenses. As for the Bills offense??
Andre Reed tries to avoid Mark Collins in Super Bowl XXV.
Over the next five years, the Bills finished #1 in offense 3 times as the team went on to 4 Super Bowl appearances. During that time Reed amassed 288 receptions for 5,128 yards and 35 touchdowns on one of the offensive juggernauts in NFL history. While teammates Jim Kelly and Thurman Thomas won several offensive player of the year awards and an NFL MVP in 1991, it was Reed who was the only Pro Bowler in all five of those seasons. The attention defenses afforded Reed on the inside is why Lofton reemerged as one of the league’s deep threats. Thanks to 2, 1,000 yard seasons, Lofton retired after 1992 as the NFL’s yardage reception leader with 14,—- yards. The last few years of his career propelled him to Canton as a Hall of Famer thanks to Reed’s sacrifice within the team’s offensive structure.
One of the greatest aspects of Reed’s career was his performance in the postseason. We already alluded to the great game he had against the Browns in 1989. In ’90 the Bills had homefield throughout the playoffs yet Jim Kelly had missed the last three regular season games. Experts weren’t sure they could pick up where they had left off, until Reed caught a shallow crossing route, broke two tackles turning it into a 40 yard touchdown. 7-0 and the Dolphins were hanging on for dear life. In a 44-34 triumph, Reed scored the clinching touchdown on a similar play from 26 yards out. On the day he caught 4 passes for 122 yards and a pair of scores.
In 1992, Reed was the Bills only top shelf performer in the AFC Wild Card tilt with the Houston Oilers. After spotting the Oilers a 35-3 third quarter lead, Buffalo roared back to win 41-38 in the greatest comeback in NFL history. Both Hall of Fame quarterback Jim Kelly and Hall of Fame running back, Thurman Thomas didn’t play that day. All Reed did was team with Frank Reich, gather 8 receptions for 136 yards and 3 second half touchdowns including the one that tied it at 38 to force overtime. Although the Bills were beaten soundly in Super Bowl XXVII, Reed had another spectacular performance with 8 receptions for 152 yards, breaking two catches for over 35 yards in the second quarter to keep the game close. At halftime the Cowboys jumped his routes on their way to a blow out win. He was that much a factor early….but Dallas pulled away 52-17.
The ultimate reason Reed is a Hall of Famer is the way he played. Without being the size of a linebacker like Brandon Marshall, Terrell Owens, and this huge new breed of receiver, Reed only stood 6’2 and 190 lbs, yet he didn’t catch short passes and slide to the ground waiting to get touched down. He stiff armed defenders and ran through arm tackles for most of his touchdowns. He was the greatest ever receiver when it came to yardage after the catch. As you saw in the latest film, he caught passes over the middle and only when the Bills caught teams in a blitz did he sight adjust to a longer pattern. Otherwise he ran through defensive backs with ease. Over his 16 year career, he gathered in 951 receptions for 13,151 yards and 87 touchdowns. He ranks 10th all time in receptions and his 27 receptions in Super Bowl competition is 2nd only to Jerry Rice.
Had Andre Reed not sacrificed for the good of the Bills offense, would James Lofton have made the Pro Football Hall of Fame?? Would Jim Kelly and Thurman Thomas?? For a period, Kelly and Reed held the record for most touchdowns by a combination in NFL history. They wrested that mantle from Johnny Unitas and Raymond Berry, which has since been broken by Peyton Manning and Marvin Harrison. The closest duo in the 1990’s was Steve Young and Jerry Rice. All of these players are either in the Pro Football Hall of Fame or a shoo-in to get there as the count down for Manning will start this February. Only Marvin Harrison and Andre Reed are on the outside looking in. Reed deserves to be in the Hall of Fame for his fearless play.
For induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, I present Andre Reed
The AFC’s best linebacker will see more double teams unless someone can emerge to replace Elvis Dumervil.
The NFL has had it’s worse off-season in it’s history and the hits just keep on coming. Think back to prior years where there have been headlines off the field, they rarely happened to teams at the top. Now here comes the latest in Von Miller appealing a violation of an NFL policy that may be drug related. We know that he is a star and this will not hurt him overall but what does this do to his team??
When we last talked about the Denver Broncos, we gauged how effective Miller was going to be now that his bookend counterpart is now in Baltimore. In our season preview: https://taylorblitztimes.com/2013/05/08/2013-denver-broncos-preview-one-more-moment-for-manning/ we wondered if they had adequately replaced Dumervil and here we are headed to camp when this bombshell hits. If his appeal goes down in flames, the Broncos will be without the services of their best player against the Baltimore Ravens, New York Giants, Oakland Raiders, and the Philadelphia Eagles. Which gives game 2 some added significance.
One of the bigger stories for us is how Raven Tackles Michael Oher and Bryant McKinnie totally neutralized him in last year’s playoffs. He only mustered 1/2 a sack in that 38-35 overtime loss. That performance was the impetus to the collapse of the Bronco defense in that game. Flacco went deep often and scorched the secondary with no pass rush in sight. After stealing Dumervil in free agency, how does the Denver defense stop Baltimore when they come to town September 5th??
If the Broncos go down in week one they have to go to New York and face Eli Manning in what should be the final Manning Bowl. With the chance to play the Super Bowl in their own home stadium as a backdrop to Denver facing one of the league’s best QBs with no pass rush, an 0-2 record is a distinct possibility. The Giants have shown the ability to clamp down on offenses that struggle to throw past 15 yards. Everyone watched the film of that playoff loss and there have been grumblings that he’s having some physical discomfort during the OTAs. This would be a game where they desperately need a pass rush.
After a four game suspension, the Broncos can ill afford his coming back rusty. In upcoming weeks he’ll have to chase Tony Romo, Andrew Luck, and RG III before we get to the second half of the season. If this suspension holds up this could have a domino affect on the season. Not as great as what Aaron Hernandez will have on the Patriots, but it will take it’s toll. To lose 29.5 sacks in Dumervil and Miller is a lot of QB pressure. If the Broncos have to manufacture a rush with the blitz, Peyton and company had better be ready for some high scoring affairs.
The only player to come back from a four game suspension and have a monster year was Lawrence Taylor in 1988, when he gained 15.5 sacks in just 12 games. Although they finished 10-6, it was their 2-2 start that kept the Giants from entering the postseason. What will the Broncos record be after 4 games without Miller?? To who would the losses come against and how would that structure AFC playoff proceedings?? Don’t forget that Lawrence Taylor’s Giants in 1988, lost the fourth game to the Los Angeles Rams 45-31. Take a wild guess who finished with an identical record and went to the playoffs on a head to head tiebreaker. Something to think about… Von Miller, your mission, should you choose to accept it….
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